India Tourist Visa Reject due to Same Sex Couple (For children's under 18)

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detroitboy123

New Member
Came here in 1999 to do Masters. Got US GC and Citizenship base on employment.

Got married in 2020. Same sex couple.. Got kids via surrogacy in 2021.

We applied for Indian Tourist visa (10 years) for our twin boys and husband. All the 3 are rejected.

"This is in connection with the three visa applications we received at VFS. However, we are unable to proceed with your applications as the Consulate does not accept same-sex marriages. Therefore, if your husband states he is married and includes his spouse's name, we will not be able to forward the application for further processing to the Consulate. Similarly, both children are also not eligible to apply as their parents are of the same sex.
Please confirm if you would like to withdraw the applications.
You may consider applying for an e-Visa, although we are not certain if the same documentation requirements apply. Please note that we do not provide e-Visa services, so we are not aware of the specific requirements for e-Visa applications.

--> We will be reapplying my husband's tourist visa (on independent basis).

--> Really not sure how to move forward with our kids. (they are 2 years old, twin boys).... we will try e-visa..

This is so bizarre.. its not seeking OCI or even citizenship... we are going for tourist visa and they are rejected that due to same sex family?

Any inputs ?
 
Hi detroitboy123,

I am going through the same process for my kiddos, and running into issues with the visa application.

Have you been able to resolve this?

We reached out to friends who had been through this. They had put Mother as 'Not Known'. I contacted another same-sex family to find out how they managed the application.

I will also try calling the Indian embassy.
 
Putting Mother as Not Known will create lot more issue we were told as other questions will arise.

We retracted applications 10 year tourist applications. (Husband will apply independently when his 10 year tourist india visa will expire (he got one before we got married and he has travelled with me to india in 2017)

We were advised to retract kids applications (which we did) and We were told to apply evisa (5 years).. as its different channel and they dont ask for the birth certificate. They require very few documents.

We were approved for evisa within 24 hours for 5 years.
 
Ah - I was referring to the eVisa application.

In the sample form on the site, it does ask for the Father's details and Mother's details - see attached. How did you navigate that?

Glad it worked out for you!
 

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@cloudypaparains and @detroitboy123

We are also a same sex couple, with both of us having OCI cards. We have put off taking the kids to India to visit, as frankly as I am afraid what happens at immigration when we land in DEL or BOM with the kids-- what happens if there's an overly zealous anti-gay officer at immigration? Or they ask the kids inappropriate questions (where is your mother)? In my nightmares they separate us from the kids.

How did it go in India for you guys? At the airport mainly, but just generally? Also, since my husband and I are both visibly Indian, not sure we'd be accorded the same privileges as a white gay couple, which also bothers me.

Thank you. Would love to take the kids to India if we can.
 
Hi @phoolmakhane ,

Our experience was quite amazing!

Before we went I had reservations too - mostly because my family is from a small provincial town in Kerala. I wondered how often I'd get questions about the kids' mother. It was just twice: 1 was a flight attendant on Etihad. I told her we were a 2 dad family. She said she was meeting such a family for the first time. She was super attentive the entire flight. The other was a neighbor near my parents' home who didn't know. But thanks to Facebook, I think everyone else was all caught up. Ha.

I traveled alone with the kids to India. My partner joined us mid-way and returned with us. Customs and immigration etc never asked any questions, and were actually friendly. This was all at Thiruvananthapuram.

One other data point - we had our older kids in Delhi via surrogacy. Me and my partner traveled together and returned with the babies - this is more than 10 years ago. Again the airport and immigration experience was cordial and non-intrusive.

Our whole trip was just about 2 1/2 weeks. We sprinkled in family visits w/ time at some amazing resorts. Kids had a blast and want to spend all of summer there next year. So it was a win.

I think you will have an amazing time. Let me know if any other questions.
 
Hi @cloudypaparain Thank you so much for your helpful response. Glad you had a good experience. Maybe I am too cautious -- I don't think I'd even transit through Doha/Dubai/Abu Dhabi as a two dad family-- although I guess when you went you were travelling sans partner so less conspicuous.

But that's great to know you travelled together ten years ago (though I suppose even then you weren't entering the country as two dad family-- just exiting), but I think your point still stands.

This has been really helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond with your experiences, and it's nice to hear it was more or less a non-event.

On a different note, I guess OCIs for the kids are out of the question given the same sex marriage issue you guys spoke about above. That's sad, but maybe that will change in time.
 
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I don't have a stake in this personally (though my brother is married to a man; no kids though), but the mixed experience is interesting. Too bad about the visa application, but glad to hear about the positive experience in India. I hope things progress there.
 
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